The initiative to
prioritize health care for Buenos Aires residents in the City
is an idea that has been taking shape for some time.
With his statements this Tuesday morning, the Head of Government, Jorge Macri, gave visibility to a project that is being worked on and also generated a controversy with the Provincial Government.
It all arose after a video went viral over the weekend in which a doctor on duty at
Argerich
explains to a group of patients who arrived from Greater Buenos Aires that they have to wait their turn to be treated.
What will the system they plan in the Buenos Aires Ministry of Health be like?
It will include the 48 Health and Community Action Centers (Cesac), plus another 3 under construction, so there will be almost one per neighborhood.
And the two Reference Ambulatory Medical Specialty Centers (Cemar) in Barracas and La Paternal, to which two others will be added that will be built on the route of the former AU 3,
in Saavedra, and in Palermo,
as confirmed by the Minister of Buenos Aires health, Fernán Quirós, in dialogue with
Clarín
.
There will be a total of
four care centers of medium complexity and diagnosis
, to which residents will arrive after referrals from their family doctors,
in which priority will be given to residents of the City.
They will be spaces that will have external offices and where different types of studies will be performed, from laboratory analyzes to MRIs, ultrasounds, or tomography scans.
"Our objective is
to strengthen the system and network of progressive care
. For that we are going to create reference outpatient centers, to which we are going to add specialties, so that
all Buenos Aires residents have their turn
," said Quirós, adding : "At the same time we are going to continue offering episodic care, that is, on call, for all those who need it in the
48 public hospitals of the City. And of course we are going to continue serving the people of Buenos Aires."
According to City figures, on average,
40% of patients in Buenos Aires hospitals do not reside in the City.
That rate can grow depending on where the hospital is.
It increases, for example, in those that are closer to the GBA.
The Buenos Aires Minister Fernán Quirós explained how the priority of care for Buenos Aires will be in the City's public health system.
"Our idea is
to serve them all
.
We are not going to discriminate against anyone.
But we also have a commitment to the people of Buenos Aires and that is why the objective is to strengthen a circuit that already works with 250 primary care doctors and 250 pediatricians," said Quirós, and He explained: "There are 850,000 Buenos Aires residents who use the public health system. 450,000 already have a family doctor; another 200,000 are from Pami; and another 250,000 go to hospitals."
The goal pursued by the Buenos Aires Ministry of Health is that care begins with the Cesac and in the neighborhoods, and not with the guards, who according to official surveys
are stressed by consultations that are "code green."
75% of on-call consultations are for a general practitioner.
For example, due to high blood pressure or a stomach ache.
"There is a habit of coming to the den, which causes them to go overboard," said Quirós, and emphasized that the purpose is to strengthen the primary care system in the neighborhoods so that "no porteño is left without an appointment."
"The message for the community is that we know that health systems have had deficits. The task, to resolve it, is to work on a system where we coordinate," said the official.
Jorge Macri's statements
"We are
designing diagnosis and care systems to prioritize the city's residents
," Jorge Macri said this Wednesday, when he ignited the controversy. In addition, he took the opportunity to criticize Axel Kicillof's government for
"the serious level of disinvestment and mismanagement that has occurred." in public health at the provincial level".
The Argerich hospital, where a video went viral in which a doctor explains to GBA patients that they must wait their turn.
Photo: Maxi Failla
Although he acknowledged that
"it is historic" that Buenos Aires patients are treated in medical centers in the Federal Capital,
the head of Government stressed that now "its highest peak of complexity is being reached."
"We make a great effort, but it has a limit," he warned.
And he explained: "Our responsibility is also to try to
prioritize the neighbor who supports the public system with taxes.
Obviously not when there is a risk of life, because there is no speculation. People go out desperate to try to get what they can
because in their They don't give it a place."
"In a normal season we have 10 million tourists, many are from the Capital who go to Mar del Plata, Gesell, Pinamar, Mar de Ajó, who go to the mountains, the river or the lagoon. When did you listen to me me launching Operation Sol saying that I'm going to ask for their address to see if I charge them or serve them?
It doesn't make much sense
," responded the Buenos Aires governor Axel Kicillof.
“How stupid the reasoning is,” he added.
From the City, at least until now, there was no talk of charging for care.
A project in this sense was presented in the Legislature in 2022. The initiative of Roberto García Moritán, of Republicans United, sought to have other jurisdictions pay for the care of their residents in the Capital.
But the Together for Change block.
"There is a primary responsibility of the Province that is essential for it to respond. Then
we are going to continue making the effort we can
, but we are designing diagnosis and care systems for the people of Buenos Aires where we prioritize it and it seems to me that that is reasonable," Macri added. , and stated: "Our commitment to universal, free, quality health care in the City is full, but we are also going to demand that other leaders have the same attitude."
S.C.